Lemanis to guide Boomers' 2020 Olympics campaign

BASKETBALL Australia has officially announced that Andrej Lemanis will return as the head coach of the Boomers for their 2020 Tokyo campaign.

After a fourth-place finish at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Lemanis was the favourite to retain his position for the next four-year cycle.

"Andrej was exceptional for the entire Australian basketball system over the past four years in his previous role with Basketball Australia and combined with the performance of the team in Rio, we were eager to retain him as our Boomers head coach," Basketball Australia chief executive officer Anthony Moore said in a press release.

"Importantly, this appointment allows Andrej to continue to do what he does best in practising his craft and coaching the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL. We are grateful for the support of the Bullets and the NBL."

Lemanis, a two-time NBL coach of the year and three-time NBL champion, will remain the head coach of the Bullets, after finishing in last place in the 2016-17 season.

"I am both humbled and honoured to be given the opportunity by Basketball Australia to once again be the head of the Helloworld Boomers," Lemanis said.

"The support of those within Basketball Australia to remain in the position has been overwhelming and I'm really appreciative of the support that the organisation has shown me."

At the beginning of March, Basketball Australia sent an email to more than 100 potential Boomers hopefuls, outlining the plan for the group's "Road to Tokyo".

In a copy of the email, obtained by foxsports.com.au, general manager of high performance Jan Stirling outlined the "proposed" calendar for the Boomers' preparation.

Other than the Olympics in 2020, the highlight of the preparation period is the World Cup qualifying campaign, where the Boomers - only featuring NBL and Europe-based players - will play on home soil.

Basketball Australia will be leaning on its NBL and Europe-based players to get the Boomers through the World Cup and Olympic qualifers, before Australia's NBA players - led by the likes of Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Ben Simmons, and Dante Exum - join the team for those tournaments.

Lemanis will be at the helm of the program, with his duties commencing on May 1, 2017.